


The Paths of Glory Lead but to the Grave

by somedayisours



Series: The Short and Simple Annals of the Poor [1]
Category: Aladdin (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Study, Gen, In the gutter looking up at the stars, It's the cave scene, Jafar's thoughts and a different choice., Minor Character Death, Murder, Not by Jafar, Origin Story, Past Sexual Abuse, street rat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-04-24 17:01:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19177603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somedayisours/pseuds/somedayisours
Summary: "He thinks of the boy he once was, of the singular grain of sand that remains hidden beneath all he has become. He hasn't forgotten, he's still a street rat beneath it all." Jafar remembers all it cost to get where he is.





	The Paths of Glory Lead but to the Grave

**Author's Note:**

> Title from _Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard_ by Thomas Gray.

He thinks of the boy he once was, of the singular grain of sand that remains hidden beneath all he has become. He hasn't forgotten, he's still a street rat beneath it all.

At Jafar's feet, the Diamond-in-the-Rough asks for his hand, the lamp is secured on his belt.

Even here, even now, Jafar can feel the shame of it. The humiliation that slides down his spine like a drop of sweat, unavoidable. Uncontrollable.

Did Hamid feel powerful as he stood there above him, Jafar wonders, did standing above a boy with his hands raised as he begged for mercy make Hamid feel grander? Or was there a boy there at all for him to see, was Jafar only a tool to give him pleasure any way he saw fit?

Even now the thought makes him sick, the sight of a fellow street rat at his feet makes Jafar's skin crawl and the contents of his stomach curdle. He will not be Hamid.

He had slit Hamid's throat with a stolen blade, taken silks and jewels and that snake-headed staff that had drawn Jafar in to begin with. He even took the cushion that he had cried into the first time it had happened, he had burned it and never cried again. He swore to himself then, blood upon his chest and hands, that he would never be the man that Hamid had been. He wouldn't let himself become that vile beast, what lingered in Jafar that had been born from Hamid would only cause there to be less of that man remaining in the world.

As Jafar thinks of this, as he looks upon a street rat much like he had once been, it isn't hard to give his hand instead of asking the boy desperate to live for his life.

**Author's Note:**

> Hamid means praiseworthy.


End file.
